It's an odd business model, for sure. I'd love to look at their balance sheet. I don't understand how the original Craftsy could have been so successful and popular with their original service levels and pricing model, then sold (and sold again), and now this is the only way they can make a profit? What is it with the craft industry where they feel like they have to play all kinds of tricky games with pricing? Joann's with their coupon shenanigans is a good example. And there's a local craft chain in my region, every single product is marked with a white tag "regular price" AND a red tag "sale price" on the day it enters the store. If *everything* is on sale all the time, then *nothing* is on sale.
I sent Craftsy a email right before their most recent reorganization about a promotion they sent out stating that all quilting classes were free for a specific weekend. I found one I wanted to take but it was definitely not free. The customer service person who responded to my email said only classes listed in a certain section were free. My reply was that section was exactly where I had found this class, and it felt pretty baity-and-switchy to me, did they not care that their reputation amongst their customer base was getting trashed? No response to that.